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The original motivation for these rules was the need to game
medium and large Napoleonic era battles with a realistic feel, and have the
battle complete within one day of play time (admittedly maybe a long day). The
end result needed to be convincing, yet the battle needed to be able to reflect
the sometimes fluid nature of period combat. I typically start rules design
with a basic point of perspective; in this case the perspective is that of an
army or corps commander. So the first time-saving element put in place was the
merging of volley, morale checks and melee into a single assault round
- or rounds in some cases. This improved the tempo of the game, and allowed an
extra focus on period related elements such as maneuver doctrine and levels of
rallying. I am not a big fan of predictability, so a fluid system of morale
hits is used instead of a more predictable descent of a unit into weakness as
it loses bases. The morale hit reflects a unit's overall form, attitude and
ability to be controlled by its officers. Recovery from morale hits is tied to
casualties, but not entirely dependent on them for results. During the game,
unit morale can become dangerously low, but it can also be improved with the
right support.
Another important element was the role of skirmish
troops. It was important that they be on the field, and they needed to be
effective and necessary in their own way. But they also could not be a monster
weapon that solely decided the battle. Ultimately we ended up putting in place
the regimental deployment zone idea in conjunction with the
skirmish marker idea. The focus being that the infantry regiment's
bases reflect the unit's overall deployment area, within which the individual
battalions might be in any of several possible formations according to the
local command's requirements. The game player has no control over battalion
formations, only the regiment's area of responsibility (its deployment zone).
The skirmish "markers" can then deploy to the regiment's front, to act as an
extension of the regiment's deployment area. But as an extension, the
skirmishers cannot destroy a unit by themselves. They can however, cause
confusion and possible withdrawal through the infliction of morale hits (but no
base kills, each base is over 500 men).
Another major feature is the
panic system. Everybody knows about the famous panic that gripped the French
Army at the end of Waterloo. But it was while reading some American Civil War
memoirs, a senior officer mentioned "...those unpredictable and singular panics
that occasionally and unpredictably grip even the steadiest troops" and how
such events were almost impossible to anticipate. That interested me, because
if it was considered such a known thing in 1863, then it must mean that
Waterloo was not such an anomaly. Some more reading (and re-reading) on the
topic verified that yes, some larger formations had panicked and spontaneously
"retrograded" during the Napoleonic Wars. It was not terribly common, but it
did happen to varying degrees. And typically the more fragile the army's
condition, the more likely such events were to spread. That led to the
introduction of a divisional panic system, which admittedly was initially a bit
too severe. Its newer versions are well tied-in with the adjustable rally
system, and also ties directly in with assault results for maximum
efficiency.
We appreciate all of the compliments and recommendations
that we receive from Republique players. Several of the corrections and changes
made to the rules are partially or wholly a result of input from gamers around
the world, and I encourage everyone to continue sending notes and comments.
Below are a few more detailed notes on specific topics:
Revision 5.0 - Change Notes
The assault curve is
now shallower compared to Version 4 of the rules. Only base (B) hits and panic
(P) hits are inflicted as modified assault results, Morale (M) hits are now the
result of the point difference between the natural (unmodified) assault die
roll spread (same die roll, no extra rolls). This gives a much wider variety of
assault results. K (kill) hits have been renamed B (base) hits throughout the
rules. Artillery fire resolution has been completely changed to a more linear
system and includes provisions for mass battery fire. The Panic table has been
modified so that divisional panic is now less likely to happen, and only occurs
at the highest level of unit panic. The rally table is now used in a slightly
more dynamic way, allowing a unit's morale to either improve, stay the same or
get worse, giving a wider range of battlefield results. Command and Orders have
been combined into a simpler Maneuver system in which units only need to roll
for more difficult movement changes. .
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